Ahh, Pizza Express. Since the olden days of Orange Wednesdays (ask yer nan) we have been regular visitors. When the management at Pizza Express invited us to check out the venue’s refurb and autumn menu, it would’ve been rude not to – especially as it is the home to... Read more

You remember Bestival 2016, that one where it was mostly sunny but even that didn’t please some people? Well, we spent a day there checking the impermeability of our wellies and the edibility of the food. Cultural commentary we shall leave to others. Us, we like to eat. The... Read more

This is, for us, becoming the year of street food. Yeah, yeah, we’ve been banging on about it for a while now and it’s hardly a new concept, as your nan will undoubtedly tell you. The English are often reduced to the ‘nation of greengrocers’ cliché, and it’s certainly... Read more

You know us – any excuse for a banquet. So when the chefs at Nomad offered to create a seven course dinner for our dining club to celebrate the Mexican festival of Cinco de Mayo, who were we to refuse? On the Isle of Wight we’re nearer to vanquished... Read more

By this year’s Bestival correspondent, Ian Winter. Our regular Festival food reviewer Wendy was busy enjoying the event this year; so Ian, who managed to eat an impressively large amount of food, agreed that Matt and Cat could pillage his Twitter and Facebook feeds for the following overview, which... Read more

Everyone says that food is expensive in Cowes Week, don’t they? But are they right? This is the third year that Matt and Cat have surveyed prices of food at over 40 outlets and venues in Cowes, and once again it seems as though popular wisdom is wrong –... Read more

One thing the Isle of Wight does well is festivals. Back in the day – when the West Wight was all fields – it played host to the mother of all pop festivals; hippies were drawn from around the globe to a tiny corner of a tiny corner of... Read more

By our Isle of Wight Festival reporter, Wendy Varley Phew! Isle of Wight Festival 2013 got off to a calm, orderly start, with none of the mud and traffic problems that afflicted it last year. I’ve even got a little bit sunburnt. The site was nicely busy by... Read more

Although it is a mere four miles away from home, Spitbank Fort luxury hotel and restaurant is not the sort of place you can just rock up at – it’s a sea-castle in the middle of the Solent for crying out loud. Vessels have to be chartered and lunches... Read more